Which nutrients might help prevent the most common cause of blindness in the elderly?
Macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. And sufferers of this condition in England had some welcome news this week when the barring from use of a drug used to treat this condition (Lucentis) by National Health Service (NHS) doctors was reversed. This means that doctors in the state medical [...]
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New evidence links low cholesterol with increased risk of cancer and death, and what are we to make of conventional cholesterol guidelines?
At the risk of repeating myself, today I’d like to share with you the results of a study which has found a link between low cholesterol levels and heightened risk of cancer. After all, it was only last Friday that I reported on a recently published study which found precisely the same thing. The study [...]
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Can MSG cause obesity?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a food ingredient which is used to enhance flavour and palatability. It is the glutamate ” an amino acid – part of the MSG molecule that does the job in this respect. MSG (and/or other sources of glutamate) can be found in a wide range of processed foods with the blessing [...]
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Low cholesterol levels linked with increased risk of cancer, so is cholesterol reduction safe?
When in comes to cholesterol levels, the mantra is usually ‘the lower the better’. The idea here is that the lower the level of cholesterol in our bloodstreams, the lower our risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g. heart attack and stroke) and therefore, we hope, death from these conditions. But wait a minute, even if this [...]
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Arsenic in drinking water linked with increased risk of diabetes
Back in July, one of my blog posts focused on an article in the British Medical Journal which highlighted the problem of drug residues turning up in municipal water supplies. A new study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that other dangers may lurk in drinking water in the form [...]
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Review confirms superiority of low-carb over low-fat for weight loss and cardiovascular disease risk factors
In the World of nutrition, not everyone shares the same opinion (obviously). And perhaps the most stark and common example of this concerns the relative amounts of carbohydrate and fat we should have in our diets. The conventional view is that the diet should be, generally speaking, low in fat and high in carb. Fat, [...]
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Two studies question the validity of the BMI in the assessment of health
Variously on this site I have written about evidence which suggests that the standard measure of weight ” the body mass index (BMI) ” is not really fit for purpose. The main issue with it that while it tells us about someone’s weight in comparison to their height, it tells us nothing about the body’s [...]
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Low vitamin D levels linked with chronic generalised pain in women
Back in November one of my blogs focused on the phenomenon of generalised body pain and vitamin D deficiency. The blog was based on my experience in practice of usually female patients, but it was also triggered by a chance conversation I had had very recently with a general practitioner here in the UK who [...]
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Zinc lozenges found to be useful for the treatment of the common cold
Last Wednesday I wrote about the role that vitamin C may have in the treatment of cancer. Of course vitamin C may have other potential benefits for the body too, and is sometimes said to be a useful remedy for the common cold in high doses. Another nutrient that has some reputation for potential benefit [...]
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The importance of taking as wide a view as possible when advising the public about sun exposure (or anything else)
When judging the effects of any factor on health, there is a tendency by scientists and the medical profession to focus on it’s effect on defined conditions. For example, we hear a lot about the supposed ability of a raised blood cholesterol to increase the risk of heart disease or the link between cigarette smoking [...]
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